1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a diaper panel of which the size can be easily adjusted within a wide range of sizes. The invention also extends to a diaper comprising that panel to fit on little babies and young children having a weight ranging from about 8 lbs to about 30 lbs.
2. Brief description of the prior art
Many adjustable and reusable diapers have been proposed in the prior art. Some examples are described and illustrated in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
4,402,690 (Redfern) issued on Sep. 6, 1983; PA1 4,704,117 granted to Mitchell on Nov. 3, 1987; PA1 4,773,906 granted to Krushel on Sep. 27, 1988; and PA1 4,801,298 (Sorenson et al.) issued on Jan. 31, 1989.
In particular, Krushel proposes a diaper comprising an outer panel defining a front flap with a first waistband portion and a rear flap with a second waistband portion. On the outer face of the first waistband portion is secured at least one VELCRO (trademark) loop fabric strip. The second waistband defines two end arms with inner faces on which VELCRO hook tabs are secured. In operation, the position of the hook tabs on the VELCRO strip is adjusted to fit the diaper on the baby or young child. An additional VELCRO loop tab is also secured on the outer face of one of the two end arms. This enables overlapping of these two end arms with an inner hook tab of the opposite end arm engaged with this additional tab to lock the so overlapped arms.
In general, adjustment of the size of the prior art reusable diapers is limited as they do not enable significative reduction of diaper size while the two end sections of the waistband portion of the rear flap are overlapped.